The Lone Healer-Chapter 204: The Healer’s Light, Part Eleven
{Neve}
Level 73
MP: 1300/1300 (+300)
EXP: 130/730
AP: 3690
IP: 90
WST: 80050
---
Endurance: 60
Speed: 50
Precision: 46
Strength: 10
Arcane: 100
Watching Aphria fly away, Neve felt puzzled in much the same way she’d apparently been for years.
If it was true that she’d fought off all the monsters that came here, killed every last one as she’d implied, how come this society had still fallen?
[... I’m guessing the answer to that is going to be key in getting Aphria to take me to the boss. Which, speaking of that, isn’t too far away.]
Taking a look at the map, Neve wondered what treasures she might have missed. However, unless she there existed items that could boost one’s skills, it was unlikely she’d find anything that would make herself or Erin substantially stronger than they were now.
All they could do, as far as Neve could tell, was keep going.
Pushing past the place where the golden barrier had been, Neve, Erin, and a heavily injured Viscera arrived at a road with many different houses lined up at the sides. It stuck out to Neve just how clean it all looked.
Nothing was broken, there were no bodies. Were it not for the oppressive silence, Neve would almost assume that if she went into any of these houses, she had at least a small chance of finding someone.
Instead, as she walked further down, she only found more enemies.
Three, this time. One archer, one spearman, and an angel carrying two shields.
Level 75
MP: 500/500
Level 72
MP: 450/450
Level 73
MP: 450/450
Neve and Erin exchanged a look. The healer went through her usual setup spells, bringing her mana down to 1175, and they rushed forward to engage the opponents. There was no real need to change strategies.
At least, that was what Neve thought at first. On her end, that was true, but on Erin’s side of the battle, it seemed like the shield-carrying enemy was going to complicate things.
Neve began trading spells with the flying archer, going for her working strategy of outlasting the opponent. Viscera targeted the spearman, as hurt as she was. She didn’t seem to mind her own wounds much.
Erin took on the opponent with the shields. Neve could see that she was unfamiliar with this situation in the way she stood before him, trying to get a feel for how he would fight. The angel with the shields did not move.
Erin dashed forward, looking to use her blinding speed to land a hit from behind. The shield-user stayed where he was, rotating his body so that he could block the incoming attack before putting his shields back up defensively once Erin backed off.
The lamia used {Freezing Gaze}, but the opponent raised his shields in front of his eyes, avoiding the paralysis. Erin then tried to strike while it was in this position, charging at it from the side.
Realizing that it wasn’t going to be able to block this attack as well as it had the others, the angel decided to do something different instead, and flew up, away from Erin.
The lamia hissed, her frustration clear and easy to see.
[Hm... It doesn’t look like that enemy even cares about killing her. He’s just trying to keep her distracted while we fight its allies. Which is pretty bad, given that Viscera’s probably going to lose her fight and, on my end...]
Neve turned her eyes toward the archer she was trading abilities with.
[I have something I want to test before we go on.]
Knowing this, Neve made up her mind to change strategies.
"Viscera, come over here!"
Her charmed angel instantly pulled away from her opponent and flew over to Neve’s position, where she raised her spear to fight a different enemy after Neve pointed at the archer.
[Good.]
"Erin!"
Neve ran over to her friend next, who quickly deduced what Neve was trying to do.
She didn’t look particularly happy about it. Accepting the change in targets probably felt like admitting that she couldn’t kill this shield-carrying opponent efficiently, which must have hurt. But, Neve felt this was necessary.
Just before she could start this new fight, Neve re-summoned her.
MP: 815/1300
Now, Erin was fighting the spearman, Viscera was facing the archer, and Neve was standing before the shield-wielding angel.
[This should be better... As long as Viscera can hold out long enough for me to try out my idea. I hope so, anyway.]
With these new assignments in place, Neve turned her attention to her own opponent and focused.
[Alright,] she thought, aiming her staff at him. [Let’s see how much damage those things can take.]
And so, she began to spam {Fireball}.
MP: 805/1300
MP: 795/1300
MP: 785/1300
The opponent raised his shields up to block the spells.
Neve watched as the spheres of flame crashed into them. One by one, the spells landed and, quickly, the healer saw cracks forming from the impact.
[20% max HP damage. If stuff like armor and shields have their own "HP" of sorts, and that applies to objects too, then, logically...]
The man must have sensed he was actually in danger, as he raised his shields up and slammed them into the ground.
Neve reacted by jumping to the right. She didn’t know what the ability he just used would do, but she had a feeling in her gut and that feeling turned out to be right, as the ground itself broke where she’d been standing.
From here, Neve got into a crouched position and, like a soldier holding up a rifle, aimed her staff once again at the enemy.
It did not happen on the fifth cast, but after seven or eight casts of {Fireball}, finally, the man’s shields broke.
He had nothing he could use to stop the incoming barrage of flames.
Neve felt he could fly away, though, and was prepared to aim up in case he did. But, the enemy never did.
Instead, almost as though it was accepting its own death, it stood still and took the next five casts of {Fireball} head-on.
One by one, they fell upon the unresponsive enemy, reducing him to ashes.
EXP Gained: 140
EXP: 270/730
WST Gained: 500
WST: 80550
Neve tilted her head.
[What was that about?]
It didn’t take long before she realized why he must have done that.
Especially as Viscera was killed right as Neve looked over at her side of the fight.
Neve did so just in time to watch as the spearman ran his weapon through her chest. At the same time, however, indifferent to the spear that had just stabbed her, Viscera stabbed her opponent in the neck.
Both angels looked at each other with no emotion at all in their eyes, until Viscera fell first.
Neve aimed her staff and finished the angel off with a few casts of {Fireball}. She’d called it when she first took hold of the warrior, so this wasn’t unexpected. But, in all honesty, she was slightly more shaken by the loss of her enemy-turned-ally than she thought she’d be.
[... I guess I won’t be able to try out my plan this time. Shit.]
EXP Gained: 140
EXP: 410/730
WST Gained: 500
WST: 81050
There was still another opponent to deal with, though.
One that Erin hadn’t managed to harm much at all since the archer had been flying away from her the entire time.
That worked out in Neve’s favor, though, as Viscera would need to be replaced now.
[Fighting as a group of 3 has been way better than fighting as a duo. Just having a third person there, absorbing pressure, makes things a lot easier for us. So... Unfortunately... It looks like I’m going to have to do "that" again.]
Reluctantly, Neve called out:
"Erin, uh, don’t kill her."
The lamia turned toward Neve, just as an arrow went by her.
Then, Erin smirked.
"Well, well, you’re downright insatiable these days! Fine, fine, I suppose it can’t be helped."
[Fuck you,] Neve replied, her cheeks turning red as she walked over.
---
"Well, this one’s kind of cute, isn’t she?" Erin asked as the new addition to their team stood before them. "I dare say we’ve upgraded!"
Neve rolled her eyes.
The fallen angel Neve had just spent the last several minutes "charming" was different from Viscera in a few ways.
She was shorter, for one, and far less muscular. Unlike Viscera, this girl’s black horns curved, like that of a goat. Her hair was tied into a neat braid, so long it nearly touched the ground. A pair of sharp, heart-bearing eyes peered back at Neve as the girl waited for any orders.
"So, what shall we call her?" Erin asked, wrapping her arm around the girl’s shoulders like she was a close buddy of hers.
"Do we have to?" Neve asked, raising her brow. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂
"What, would you rather treat the girl you just went down on like a walking prop? I didn’t think you were that type of lady. My summoner is so cold..."
"Fine, fine. Name her whatever you want."
Looking at the girl from the side, Erin smiled.
"I’m thinking... Selene! How about it?"
Indifferent as all these angels were, Selene said nothing.
"Aw, she loves it!" Erin declared.
Shaking her head, Neve walked away a couple of steps, to look at the path they were meant to follow from here.
[Not much farther from the boss... So,] Neve thought, [How do I get Aphria to join us?]
